Customers' Ultimate Level of Satisfaction Results from the Combination of Two Factors:

I ran across this most remarkable summary in reading "Satisfaction," a book authored by Chris Denvoe and James D. Powers IV. I had to share it, in that it is the best summary I have run across to date. Enjoy...

Customers' ultimate level of satisfaction results from the combination of two factors:

• The process imposed by management, and
• The personal interaction that takes place between employees and customers.

Management can do everything within its power to establish processes designed to maximize efficiency and customer satisfaction, but all its efforts will evaporate like a mirage in the desert if a customer encounters a rude employee charged with carrying out this process.

Of course, the converse is also true.

Even the best employee, regardless of his or her personality, will find it difficult to salvage a customer experience sabotaged by poor processes.

Think about it... It is something we encounter all to frequently, isn't it?

Perfectly Stated

Your mission is to be . .Your vision is to become . . .Your brand is who you are and what you do differently.

Tips for Building Brand Culture

• Make sure senior executives are walking the talk
• Make sure the brand and its message are consistent over time—innovate and update brand, but do not change the essence
• Have a relevance and differentiated promise so that employees know what each brand stands for, why it is special, understand what brand it trying to achieve and their role in bringing the promise to life
• Always focus on customers and their needs
• Consistently conduct needs-based segmentation
• Maintain frequent and consistent brand communication
• Align the organization around all brand-building efforts
• Set up metrics, measure consistently and make improvements based on results
  Have every employee go through a “mission and medallion” ceremony to explain the purpose, value and meaning of organization
• Give employees tools to be brand ambassadors: define benefits, strategy, personality, identity standards, and Intranet site to house all information
• Hold organization-wide brand meetings
• Link profit sharing to brand building and ask employees to create a plan for how they will live the brand
• Regularly measure employee morale

Brands That Over Deliver

A collegue of mine at Cohn Marketing www.cohnmarketing.com posted a Tweet requesting stories on brands that over deliver. In spirit of finding companies who are doing things right, I thought I would share my experience with Omni Hotel in Chicago. It was clear from the moment I arrived that this team was well-trained on providing the ultimate customer experience. I was greeted by name. Prior to my arrival the hotel had asked me about my preferences which were confirmed upon check-in. I had a corner room with a view, Internet access and my preferred wine in the room available for purchase. Everyone in the hotel made an effort to greet me and assist me throughout my stay. It was so remarkable that others in my group also noticed the level of service and we began a conversation around how outstanding our experience had been from restaurant servers to meeting room assistants. We shared our feedback with the hotel manager and we all proclaimed that the next time we had an opportunity we would stay in another Omni Hotel. Great job Omni! Internal brand adoption really does make a difference to the bottom line.

Brand Busters!

Do you ever wonder how some companies get to be leading brands? This is something that goes through my head daily. A recent experience I had with 1-800-Flowers is an example of a bad brand experience caused by shallow execution. I sent flowers to someone who just had a baby. There was a limited selection for that life experience, but I found something and ordered online. Normally I am sending flowers out of state. With this experience, I was sending them to someone in town, so I had the unique opportunity to witness what was sent. Needlesstosay, I was appalled by the size and quality of what was sent. I was embarrassed to say the least. The confirmation of delivery I received via email allowed me to provide feedback. When I did, I received a message that I would get a credit on my next order. I replied back that apparently, they did not read my message, because I did not intend to ever order from them again. Again, I received the same "standard" credit message that I received the first time. So, again, I replied, only to get the same standard credit message the third time. That is a great example of shallow execution and a company that will never truly learn why its customers disengage due to a bad brand experience. Do you have similar experiences to share?

Does Establishing A Brand Cost Millions?

Thankfully, the answer is, "no."

I participated in a President's Forum here in Columbus put on by The Entrepreneurship Institute. One of the keynote speakers was David Karam, President of Wendy's International, Inc. His presentation was very inspiring for all businesses present. He spent the majority of his time with us discussing the brand work he was leading for Wendy's. The work that is being done seems remarkable, and when he quoted that the investment was about $2 million, I am sure the closely-held small and mid-size business CEOs in the room could not relate. Later that afternoon I moderated a session on Customer Retention Strategies That Work. Not surprising, it was well attended. The most interest seemed to be on how to align the team with the company's mission. In brand world, this is internal brand adoption--the same thing that David Karam talked about in his presentation. While it does not need the size investment that Wendy's has made, it does need to be budgeted in small- to mid-size businesses. I would recommend $20,000 - $100,000 depending on the size of the organization. You can spend all the money that you want on external marketing and advertising, but if the experience with your brand isn't a good one at every touch point within your organization, you are just throwing money to the wind...